Malcolm is an abandoned town located between Leonora and Laverton in the

Shire of Leonora The Shire of Leonora is a local government area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, about north of the city of Kalgoorlie and about northeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of go ...

in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

was discovered in the area in 1895, and in 1896 the local provisional committee lobbied the government to perform a survey and declare a townsite. The town had six stores, three hotels and two bakeries at this time. The townsite was gazetted in 1897. In 1900 the town was incorporated and had

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

street lights and a swimming pool. In 1903 over 200 buildings were located in town and the population had reached 450. By 1904 the town had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 400 along with six hotels and a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

. The town derives its name from a geological feature located just outside the town called Mount Malcolm, which was named by John Forrest while he was exploring in 1869. Forrest had named the feature after his friend and fellow explorer Malcolm Hamersley. The total area of the town was . The town was also the centre of the Mount Margaret goldfield.

References

{{authority control Mining towns in Western Australia Ghost towns in Western Australia Shire of Leonora